Policy responses to COVID-19 in Sri Lanka and the consideration of Indigenous Peoples ☆

COVID-19 has had uneven impacts on health and well-being, with Indigenous communities in the Global South facing some of the highest risks. Focusing on the experience of Sri Lanka, this study identifies key policy responses to COVID-19, documents how they evolved over two years of the pandemic, and examines if and how government responses have addressed issues pertaining to Indigenous Peoples. Drawing upon an analysis of policy documents (n=110) and interviews with policymakers (n=20), we characterize seven key policy responses implemented by the Sri Lankan government: i) testing for and identifying COVID-19;ii) quarantine procedures;iii) provisional clinical treatments;iv) handling other diseases during COVID-19;v) movement;vi) guidelines to be adhered to by the general public;and vii) health and vaccination. The nature of these responses changed as the pandemic progressed. There is no evidence that policy development or implementation incorporated the voices and needs of Indigenous Peoples.

Policy responses to COVID-19 in Sri Lanka and the consideration of Indigenous Peoples.

COVID-19 has had uneven impacts on health and well-being, with Indigenous communities in the Global South facing some of the highest risks. Focusing on the experience of Sri Lanka, this study identifies key policy responses to COVID-19, documents how they evolved over two years of the pandemic, and examines if and how government responses have addressed issues pertaining to Indigenous Peoples. Drawing upon an analysis of policy documents (n = 110) and interviews with policymakers (n = 20), we characterize seven key policy responses implemented by the Sri Lankan government: i) testing for and identifying COVID-19; ii) quarantine procedures; iii) provisional clinical treatments; iv) handling other diseases during COVID-19; v) movement; vi) guidelines to be adhered to by the general public; and vii) health and vaccination. The nature of these responses changed as the pandemic progressed. There is no evidence that policy development or implementation incorporated the voices and needs of Indigenous Peoples.

Indigenous peoples and the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic scoping review.

Past influenza pandemics including the Spanish flu and H1N1 have disproportionately affected Indigenous Peoples. We conducted a systematic scoping review to provide an overview of the state of understanding of the experience of Indigenous peoples during the first 18 months of the COVID-19 pandemic, in doing so we capture the state of knowledge available to governments and decision makers for addressing the needs of Indigenous peoples in these early months of the pandemic. We addressed three questions: (a) How is COVID-19 impacting the health and livelihoods of Indigenous peoples, (b) What system level challenges are Indigenous peoples experiencing, (c) How are Indigenous peoples responding? We searched Web of Science, Scopus, and PubMed databases and UN organization websites for publications about Indigenous peoples and COVID-19. Results were analyzed using descriptive statistics and content analysis. A total of 153 publications were included: 140 peer-reviewed articles and 13 from UN organizations. Editorial/commentaries were the most (43%) frequent type of publication. Analysis identified Indigenous peoples from 19 different countries, although 56% of publications were centered upon those in Brazil, United States, and Canada. The majority (90%) of articles focused upon the general adult population, few (<2%) used a gender lens. A small number of articles documented COVID-19 testing (0.04%), incidence (18%), or mortality (16%). Five themes of system level challenges affecting exposure and livelihoods evolved: ecological, poverty, communication, education and health care services. Responses were formal and informal strategies from governments, Indigenous organizations and communities. A lack of ethnically disaggregated health data and a gender lens are constraining our knowledge, which is clustered around a limited number of Indigenous peoples in mostly high-income countries. Many Indigenous peoples have autonomously implemented their own coping strategies while government responses have been largely reactive and inadequate. To 'build back better' we must address these knowledge gaps.

Interactions between climate and COVID-19.

In this Personal View, we explain the ways that climatic risks affect the transmission, perception, response, and lived experience of COVID-19. First, temperature, wind, and humidity influence the transmission of COVID-19 in ways not fully understood, although non-climatic factors appear more important than climatic factors in explaining disease transmission. Second, climatic extremes coinciding with COVID-19 have affected disease exposure, increased susceptibility of people to COVID-19, compromised emergency responses, and reduced health system resilience to multiple stresses. Third, long-term climate change and prepandemic vulnerabilities have increased COVID-19 risk for some populations (eg, marginalised communities). The ways climate and COVID-19 interact vary considerably between and within populations and regions, and are affected by dynamic and complex interactions with underlying socioeconomic, political, demographic, and cultural conditions. These conditions can lead to vulnerability, resilience, transformation, or collapse of health systems, communities, and livelihoods throughout varying timescales. It is important that COVID-19 response and recovery measures consider climatic risks, particularly in locations that are susceptible to climate extremes, through integrated planning that includes public health, disaster preparedness, emergency management, sustainable development, and humanitarian response.

Building a community advisory board to research climate change impacts on consumption of food biodiversity of indigenous communities in the peruvian amazon

BackgroundA sustainable planet for everyone requires improving the nutrition of minorities and historically excluded populations. Indigenous people in South America are among those more affected by multiple forms of malnutrition, and the Amazon ecosystem is increasingly experiencing dramatic changes including more frequent and intense extreme weather events. In the context of a research project aimed to investigate the potential of food biodiversity to protect Amazon Indigenous people nutrition in the light of more intense and severe flooding, we have created a Community Advisor Board (CAB) to increase the impact of the project, and to provide with advice to conduct a meaningful and cultural adequate implementation of the project.MethodsOne climatologist, two senior nutritionists (male and female) and two women Indigenous leaders, were invited to participated in the CAB through official letters by email. All except the climatologist, replied positively. As part of the first year we have developed three online working meetings (1 to 2 hrs each). The CAB have provided advice to adapt an online dietary assessment tool (myfood24), to perform a pilot study for creating a photo album of Indigenous food portions, and to advise on how to approach Indigenous communities nutritional needs during the still on going COVID-19 pandemic in the Peruvian Amazon.ResultsFour critical points were highlighted by the CAB for increasing the impact of the project: 1) to seek to increase the resilience of Indigenous food diets to climate change for example by identifying what crops were ’climate resistant’ according to Indigenous knowledge, 2) It was recommended to collect recipes that have protected indigenous communities during COVID-19 since ‘food’ was also used as ’medicine’ among Indigenous people, 3) the investigation of food biodiversity informs Indigenous food resilience this was mentioned as being highly important to protect indigenous nutrition during extreme weather events and even during COVID-19, and 4) It was recognized that gender differences were important to consider because of biological differences between male and female, for food consumption (e.g. portion sizes and food distribution within households vary between sexes) and because women were the protectors and safeguarders of knowledge to produce and collect plants from the forestConclusionThe CAB was stablished with two Indigenous and two non-Indigenous members. The CAB encouraged the researchers to share the data collected with other indigenous groups in the Amazon to increase their resilience to climate change and to inform peruvian authorities about the nutrition content of Indigenous foods